Halvor Egner Granerud won the qualification for the first competition of the Four Hills Tournament. Karl Geiger, Andreas Wellinger and Philipp Raimund also got off to a good start.
With the support of 16,000 fans behind them, the ski jumpers qualified for the opening event of the 71st Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf. The measure of all things this time was not Dawid Kubacki. The Pole had to line up behind fellow favorite Halvor Egner Granerud (NOR) on the Schattenbergschanze. Third was Timi Zajc (SLO).
Geiger and Wellinger strong, Raimund surprised
In the German team, Karl Geiger, Andreas Wellinger and Philipp Raimund were the most confident that the tour would get off to a good start. “It was a good start for us“said coach Stefan Horngacher on ZDF.
Local hero Geiger jumped to seventh place and showed that he is on a clear upward trend. Even with Wellinger, the form curve is going up after surviving ankle problems. With eighth place, he gained self-confidence for the hunt for the golden eagle.
Raimund jumps into the top 15
Youngster Philipp Raimund, who had secured a starting place with good results in the Continental Cup and thanked for the trust with a jump on 131 meters and 14th place, was also able to surprise.
Eisenbichler is still looking for top form
However, not all of the jumpers in the DSV athletes are on the right track: Pius Paschke was 21st. Team colleague Constantin Schmid (24th) did not get the timing right when jumping off. The fact that he still flew at 124 meters shows that he can do more.
Markus Eisenbichler, who lined up behind Schmid, must continue to hope that the knot will finally burst. During his flight to 127.5 meters, he not only lost points when landing. Eisenbichler was annoyed that he couldn’t make better use of the good conditions. “I just have to find a magic potion, I have no other choice”he said almost a little desperately.
Stephan Leyhe was also enough for a place in the top 50 on Thursday with 120 meters. So all seven DSV ski eagles are at the start on the Schattenbergschanze.